Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Given New $40.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WMG. Macquarie dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of WMG traded up $0.67 on Friday, hitting $31.85. 2,666,476 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,561,219. The company has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.68. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.68.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $391,679,000 after buying an additional 192,215 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 6.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 13,141 shares of the company's stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth $523,000. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the first quarter worth about $759,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin' Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.